1997 Supercharged 3.8L Stalling Problem

[nforbes]

I have a 97 supercharged grand prix which has been stalling since 4/1. brought it to 4 different people - no one can figure it out. one place says it's losing spark but can't figure out where from.

Not the crankshaft sensor.
Fixed the fuel pump assembly/fuel filter
Fixed the ignition switch

Has anyone had a similar problem? this is what it does:
Starts up. Sometimes, you can drive it all day shutting it off and on with no problem. Then, while driving, all of the lights come on and the car stalls out - the battery doesn't die. when i turn the car over, it tries SO hard to start but just won't get that little "oomph" to make the car starts. one time, it started right back up...but that only happened that once. usually it takes 15mins to an hour to start.

 

[blueguy]

MAF? Try unplugging it and see if it starts just fine.

 

[DanGTP]

That sounds like a classic ignition control module failure. (Fails randomly when hot, then works again once cooled down.) The bad part is that those aren't cheap for our cars if you get a new one. (Salvage yard or Ed Morad is the way to go.)

Before you buy another one, though, take yours off and go have it tested at Auto Zone. If you don't know where it is, it's what your coils are mounted to on the passenger front of the engine. Unbolt and remove the coils, unbolt the control module, unplug, and it's free.

 

[sandite5]

That sounds like a classic ignition control module failure. (Fails randomly when hot, then works again once cooled down.) The bad part is that those aren't cheap for our cars if you get a new one. (Salvage yard or Ed Morad is the way to go.)

Before you buy another one, though, take yours off and go have it tested at Auto Zone. If you don't know where it is, it's what your coils are mounted to on the passenger front of the engine. Unbolt and remove the coils, unbolt the control module, unplug, and it's free.

Yea my car just did this, this morning.

Car had been on and warmed up for about 10 minutes. As I was accelerating it just up and cut off, lights and radio stayed on though. I immediately put it in Neutral and restarted it (rolling of course) and it went on just fine, like nothing happened.

This has happened to my wife once before about a month ago, twice in a row for her. It died, she restarted and drove and immediately died again.

Anyway, I figured it wouldn't be Fuel as I would have expected a stutter or hesitation before or after the issue. This was a straight up shut down of the engine with no warning whatsoever.

I could only imagine what will happen if that shuts off when I'm trying to cross an intersection. Hope I get it ironed out soon...:th_scratchhead:

 

[GTP00Matt]

That sounds like a classic ignition control module failure. (Fails randomly when hot, then works again once cooled down.) The bad part is that those aren't cheap for our cars if you get a new one. (Salvage yard or Ed Morad is the way to go.)

Before you buy another one, though, take yours off and go have it tested at Auto Zone. If you don't know where it is, it's what your coils are mounted to on the passenger front of the engine. Unbolt and remove the coils, unbolt the control module, unplug, and it's free.

:th_thumbsup-wink: Exactly! That's the first thing I thought of too.

 

[legend]

i dont mean to pull up a old post but i have searched and have found so many people with this issue.
my car is doing this now to! since 09 have you ever figured out what it was?
im going to sand my ground and run some seafoam i hear it could be a clogged cat..

 

[txslow6]

Double check the fuel filter as that could be a possibility as well.

My 97 had the same symptoms as you guys and it ended up being the rear fuel pump relay. It was intermittent as the contacts had wallowed out from viberation over time.